Chapter 16 - An Unexpected VisitorThe golden light of late afternoon was casting long shadows across the manicured lawns of the Shaw estate when the front security gate’s intercom chimed softly in the main foyer.
Declan, sitting in the study reviewing a quiet portfolio of European import certificates, looked up from his desk. Through the French doors leading to the courtyard, he could see Aaron and Mia sitting with Penny under the shade of a massive oak tree, helping her paint a small wooden birdhouse.
The intercom chimed a second time.
Declan pressed the secure comms button on his desk. "State your business."
A static-laced, hesitant voice crackled through the speaker. "Mr. Shaw... my name is Detective Miller. Chicago PD, Internal Affairs Division. I need five minutes of your time. It’s about Graham Pike’s private records."
Declan’s eyes narrowed slightly. He leaned back in his leather chair, his fingers drumming a slow, rhythmic beat against the polished wood. "Internal Affairs doesn't usually make house calls to the waterfront, Detective. Especially not unannounced."
"I’m off the clock, Mr. Shaw," Miller replied, his voice strained with urgency. "And what I found in Graham’s personal safe deposit box at the downtown Federal Trust isn't going into an official police report. If I don't give it to you directly, it’s going to vanish into an evidence locker never to be seen again."
Declan stood up, buttoning his jacket with smooth, deliberate precision. "Gate four is open. Drive up to the main entrance. You have five minutes to convince me why I shouldn't have my enforcers throw you back into traffic."
Ten minutes later, the heavy oak doors of the study opened. Detective Miller—a tired-looking man in his late forties with rumpled clothes and dark circles under his eyes—stepped cautiously into the room, holding a bulky manila envelope tied with thick twine.
"Sit," Declan commanded, gesturing toward the leather armchair opposite his desk.
Miller sat down slowly, placing the envelope on the center of the desk. He didn't touch it again, as if the paper itself were radioactive. "Before Graham died in that ballroom, he had a secondary safety deposit box registered under a dummy corporation. Internal Affairs seized it during the raid on his financial assets. Most of it was cash and bearer bonds. But at the very bottom... there was a sealed envelope bearing your family crest."
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Declan didn't reach for the envelope immediately. His obsidian eyes fixed on the detective. "What’s inside?"
"Proof that Graham didn't just frame Aaron four years ago," Miller said, swallowing hard. "He had help from inside your own family's inner circle. Someone whose name you’re going to recognize very well."
